handmade beads

I think he looks like a prince that walked out from a fairy tale. Probably from a French one! X)Would he smell of roses and mint as his colors suggest?It must be Valentines’ coming up that allowed me to indulge in the making of this charming gentleman.

I used a mixed technique to make this doll..First I molded all the pieces by hand with my own personal concoction of “starch-clay” it was a bit hard at first since the clay was not dry yet but I kept on working on assembling him together.

I painted a flower on the front of his shirt that was inspired by a botanical motif on a medieval tapestry.

Below you can see some pictures I took while I made him:.

After the starch-clay had hardened I covered each one of the pieces with bits of papier máchê, waited for them to dry and sanded him for a soft finish, it felt quite velvety!

Then applied the background colors with acrylic paint.

And once that was dry I added the details with paint brushes.

I use polychrome for protection, it makes the best finish I have found so far, smooth to the touch and very shiny.

I’m looking forward to making more dolls of this kind and to experiment around with different shapes.

It is a really long process. I love the way this one looks and feels! Specially the size, it’s a new one for me, so much bigger, it allowed me with SO much room than I usually have to paint on! I love painting my dolls so much! ^u^I could use a thinner paintbrush, one that only had one single hair at the very tip!

I painted a butterfly on his back.

Since I had only painted my little doll beads before I wasn’t sure of what I could do this time. But I’m quite happy with the new found extra-room!

It is still pretty small in size in real life, just look at the size of my fingers next to his head. It makes my pinky look chubby! (and it isn’t one bit, just for the record! ;)

The picture below this has a post card I’ve been drawing as the background and 2 other pieces I also finished at the same time as this doll.

I asked my daughter to help me for this shot, I wanted to see if he would make an earring